Pope: culture of well-being and provisional strip us of the courage to follow Jesus
Vatican City
(AsiaNews) - The culture of well-being and that of the "provisional"
strip us of the courage to follow Jesus: the first because it prevents us from
being able to deprive ourselves of our "wealth", the second because
"we are afraid of the time God
"because it is definitive. The
episode of today's Gospel, the rich young man who Jesus asks to give up all his
wealth to the poor and follow him, but who goes away sorrowful gave Pope Francis
the opportunity to speak of the need to make an examination of conscience on
the riches that
prevent us from drawing close to Jesus
During
the Mass celebrated this morning at Santa Marta, Vatican Radio reports, the
Pope said that underlined that "riches are an impediment" that "do not
facilitate our journey towards the Kingdom of God". And he pointed out: "Each
and every one of us has riches". There is always, he said, a richness that
"stops us from getting close to Jesus". And this must be singled out. We must
all, he continued, examine our conscience and pinpoint our riches because they
stop us from getting close to Jesus on the path of life". And the Pope focused
on what he called two "cultural riches": the first, a "culture of economic
wellbeing that causes us to be lacking in courage, makes us lazy, makes us
selfish". Wellbeing, he said, "anaesthetizes us, it's an anaesthetic".
"No, no, not more than one child, because otherwise we will not be able to go
on holiday, we will not be able to go out, we will not be able to buy a house. It's
all very well to follow the Lord, but only up to a certain point. This is what
economic wellbeing does to us: we all know what wellbeing is, but it deprives
us of courage, of the courage we need to get close to Jesus. This is the first
richness of the culture of today, the culture of economic wellbeing".
There is also, he added, "another richness in our culture", another richness
that prevents us from getting close to Jesus: it's our fascination for the
temporary". We, he observed, are "in love with the provisional". We don't like
Jesus's "definitive proposals". Instead we like what is temporary because "we
are afraid of God's time" which is definitive.
"He is the Lord of time; we are the masters of the moment. Why? Because we are
in command of the moment: I will follow the Lord up to this point, and then I
will see... I heard of a man who wanted to become a priest - but only for ten
years, not any longer..." Attraction for the provisional: this is a richness. We
want to become masters of time, we live for the moment. These two riches are
the ones that, in this moment, prevent us from going forward. I think of so
many men and women who have left their land to work throughout their lives as
missionaries: that is definitive!".
And, he said, I also think of so many men and women who "have left their homes
to commit to a lifelong marriage", that is "to follow Jesus closely! It's the
definitive". The temporary, Pope Francis stressed, "is not following Jesus",
it's "our territory".
Before Jesus' invitation, before these two cultural riches, let us think of the
disciples: they were disconcerted. We too can be disconcerted by Jesus'
request. When Jesus explained something, people listened in amazement. Let us
ask the Lord to give us the courage to go forward, to rid ourselves of this
culture of economic wellbeing, hoping in time - at the end of the journey where
He awaits us. Not with the small hope of the moment that will no longer be of
any use. And so be it".
07/02/2019 17:28
31/10/2019 15:26